


The early bird catches the worm

by sarih93



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-21 00:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4808726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarih93/pseuds/sarih93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Julie Johnston is not an early bird. But a cute TA might change her mind about morning classes</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Julie Johnston hates morning classes but this semester she was convinced to enroll in one by her roommate turned best friend Morgan Brian. Actually it was more like she was bribed with free Starbucks.

But as she's fighting to stay awake while the professor drones on about the syllabus Julie thinks she should’ve ask Moe for more than just free coffee. JJ is almost back in dreamland when Moe elbows her on the ribs. Startled Julie jumps and hits her knee on the desk and Morgan has to bite her fist to silence her laughter. JJ tries to glare at her best friend but the girl is too busy chuckling at her own prank to even notice. She might have to ask Hope for her secret on achieving the perfect glare.

Rolling her eyes at Morgan, who is still laughing, JJ turns back to the front of the class. Immediately she notices that they have attracted the attention of the TA. Right now she can't remember if the professor introduced the girl at the beginning but she seems amused by their little episode even if she quickly looks away.

JJ is embarrassed that she was caught sleeping during class so she opens up her notebook and dutifully starts to take notes. But from time to time she finds herself looking at the teacher's assistant. The girl is certainly pretty, with black hair, caramel skin and light eyes that Julie wishes she could pinpoint their exact color but she’s too far away.

As soon as the professor dismisses the class half of the students run to the door. Julie and Morgan wait out the initial stampede before they get up.

"Ugh I wished I had time for a nap before my next class," JJ complains while they make their way outside the classroom.

"Admit that the class seems interesting.”

The course was an exploration of issues related to management of conflict around the world and it actually wasn’t half bad but Julie didn’t want to give Morgan a reason to gloat.

"Nothing is really interesting at 8 in the morning." As she speaks they pass by the TA's desk where the girl is still packing up her stuff. JJ offers her a smile and the gesture is timidly returned. Green, the pretty girl has pretty green eyes JJ notices.

Flash-forward a month and Julie still isn’t used to the early wake up calls.

“JJ come on! If you don't get up now we won't have time to stop for coffee before class.” Morgan shakes Julie who groans and grips her pillow tighter. Moe is about to resort to drastic measures when Julie gets up and groggily gets dressed.

The girls walk in silence towards the Starbucks inside the campus. Once inside Morgan makes a beeline towards the line to order. JJ walks in and stands next to her best friend for a while but she gets restless and starts to wander around.  Still too sleepy to really function she bumps into someone. Without looking she starts to apologize and then she realizes that the stranger is actually a bit familiar.

“Sorry I bump into you, I’m really not a morning person.” Of course she had to embarrass herself again in front of the TA and she still doesn’t know her name.

“I’ve noticed,” it’s the softly spoken response.

“I’m Julie by the way… um I never really heard your name?” Julie hopes she doesn’t come off as awkward as she’s feeling right now.  But this girl makes her feel weird and very aware that she probably looks like a hobo right now with her too big sweatpants and very messy hair

“I’m Christen. I think you were sleeping when I was introduced.” Julie smiles sheepishly, not knowing what to say next. She’s saved by a barista calling Christen’s name.

“I’ll see you in class Julie” Christen starts to walk towards the counter but she turns back towards Julie “You should really try to stay awake today, there might be a quiz coming soon.” Christen smiles toothily, in a way Julie hadn’t seen her do before.

Julie follows Christen with her eyes until she disappears, when she turns around looking for Morgan she finds that her best friend is staring at her strangely.  But Morgan doesn’t say anything and that tells JJ that Moe is thinking hard and it makes her feel nervous.

After they leave Starbucks Morgan starts to talk, watching how Julie reacts to what she’s saying because this isn’t the kind of conversation that she’s comfortable having .

“You know I used to think you were sleeping with your eyes open in class, and that it was a coincidence that you were focused on something close to the TA’s desk.”

Julie blushes and avoids making eye contact. she didn’t think that she had been staring enough for Moe to notice. Because sure she can admit that Christen is gorgeous but she’s not used to having such a fixation on a girl no matter how pretty she might be. She desperately wants to explain this to her best friend but she doesn’t know how to do it.

“She seems nice,” Julie shrugs and stares straight ahead “and back at the café she told me that there’s going to be a quiz about today’s class.” Julie knows that this isn’t what Morgan was trying to talk about but it’s all she can say. 

Morgan nods “Maybe you should invite her to Sera’s concert, as a thank you,” Moe says carefully. JJ nods back, she’s still confused but Moe’s idea seems like a good idea because she’ll have more time to figure out her fixation on Christen and hopefully her friends will make it less awkward.

By now they’ve reached the auditorium.  Julie unconsciously looks for Christen and offers her a small wave. Once the class starts Julie works extra hard to concentrate on what the professor is explaining and not give into temptation and stare at the TA.

After the class ends Julie gathers up her courage and approaches Christen.

“Did you manage to stay awake for the whole class?” Christen asks her with a teasing smile.

“I did actually,” Julie chuckles nervously “thanks for letting me know about that quiz.”

Christen opens her mouth to respond but JJ doesn’t let her, afraid she might lose her nerve. “you see one of my friend’s girlfriend is in a band and they’re playing in a bar downtown and I was wondering if you would like to go?”

Christen stays quiet for a moment that felt like an eternity to Julie.

“Thank you, for inviting me,” Christen starts shyly and Julie sort of deflates thinking she’s being blown off, “but I, um, don’t really like bars.” Christen shakes her head and crinkles her nose in a way that JJ finds adorable and yeah ok those are definitely butterflies in her stomach.

“That’s ok! How about coffee?” asks Julie excited because Christen wasn’t saying no.

“Coffee sounds great. Maybe Saturday, so that you can still go out with your friends?”

Julie just nods excitedly and hopes that Moe didn't stick around to watch this. “I have to go now or I’ll be late for class but I’ll see you on Saturday.” And after one more wave she rushes out.

Ok that wasn’t so bad, let’s see how things go on Saturday.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had to add KO because she's awesome.

Christen was laying on her bed ready to leave, in 20 minutes she is supposed to meet Julie, but she was having second thoughts

“Pressy you’re thinking too loud again.” And without another word Kelley plopped down on Christen’s bed. Since they were the only ones from their group of friends that had decided to go to grad school it made sense to share an apartment.

“Why did I agree to this? She’s my student”

“Not really”

Christen groans, “I should have asked if this was a date.”

“Probably.” Christen looked so distressed that Kelley finally took pity on her friend. “You guys are just going out for coffee. Worst case scenario you have to buy your own coffee. Best case scenario this turns out to be a really good thing for you.”

That actually made Christen feel better but Kelley wasn’t done “Not to mention that my love life really sucks right now and this way I can live vicariously through yours.” Christen rolled her eyes with a smile. In between the sarcasm and the bad jokes Kell always helped her quiet down her brain.

“Ok, I’m leaving”

“Use protection!” Kelley cackled at her own stupid joke and Christen left, not bothering to respond.

Julie is already waiting for her by the time she arrives at the same Starbucks where they ran into each other last week. Julie is sitting facing the window and she gets up when she sees Christen enter. For once Julie isn’t wearing sweatpants and her hair is down. Christen already thought she was pretty but like this she was beautiful.

“Hi,” Julie sort of goes for a hug but at the end she backs away and just waves in that dorky way she always does.

“Hi, I’m sorry to keep you waiting”

“Oh no it’s ok I just got here,” Julie pauses for a moment “now that you’re here too you can just sit and I’ll go get us some coffee. My treat.”

“You don’t have to do that”

“I know but I want to,” responds Julie confidently.

“That’s really sweet of you; I’ll have a tall latte.” Julie nods and bounds up to the register. Watching her go Christen can only think of a puppy, a puppy with really nice hair, beautiful eyes and a killer smile. Her crush is really getting out of hand.

While she waits for Julie to come back Christen thinks about what Kelley said to her earlier. And then she thinks about this could go wrong. By the time Julie is bringing the drinks Christen is ready to bolt out of there

“Thanks, do you feel like going for a walk?”

“Sure,” Julie answers easily, unaware of the way anxiety was starting to overwhelm Christen.

They start to walk aimlessly in a surprisingly comfortable silence that Christen breaks first.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot”

“Why did you take a morning class if you can barely stay awake?”

Julie chuckles “Honestly? Morgan bribed me with coffee” Christen laughs too

“You two seem really close, did you guys knew each other before college?”

“No, we were roommates freshman year and we just clicked I guess so now we’re the bestest friends,” Julie finishes with a cheesy smile.

“That’s great, you guys are really lucky.”

The two of them keep walking and making small talk. Christen tells Julie all about grad school. To her surprise she really opens up to Julie which is very unusual since she hasn’t known the blonde girl for a long time.

 Julie is recounting one of Morgan’s cooking experiments when Christen notices the time

“I hate to cut this short but I have to go start a research paper that’s due Monday”

“It’s ok, I get it”

“I’m headed this way,” Christen says and points, hoping to prolong their time together. But unfortunately they have to go on completely different directions.

Christen doesn’t know how to say goodbye to a girl she likes that she may or may not be on a date with. And apparently Julie doesn’t know how to say goodbye either because they just stand there staring at each other.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” Julie pauses, looking embarrassed, “this was my first date with a girl.”

Christen can’t help but chuckle softly because once again Julie unknowingly dissipated her fear.

“I have a confession to make too, I wasn’t sure if this was a date.” Julie breaks eye contact and takes a step back but Christen isn’t done talking “But I really wanted it to be.”

They must look ridiculous, standing on a sidewalk just grinning at each other but Christen can’t find it in herself to care right now.

“I would really like to go on my first second date with a girl soon,” Julie admits and in that moment Christen realized how brave this cute dork could be so she decides to follow her example. Christen takes a step forwards and gives Julie a kiss on the cheek. Julie immediately blushes all the way to the top of her ears.

“I would love to go out with you again.”

Julie gives Christen a hug goodbye and they part ways.

Christen replays her evening with Julie all the way to her apartment. Kelley is in the living room and she immediately pause her movie when she sees Christen.

“So? How did it go with you student?” Kelley asks teasingly

“It went great” Christen admits

“I figured, you haven’t stopped smiling, it’s starting to creep me out.”

“I’ll leave you alone with your movie.”

Kelley sticks hers tongue out and just as Christen is about to go into her room she calls her back “Christen, my friend, I say this from the bottom of my heart: I told you so.”

She won’t admit it but Kelley was right before, today felt like the start of something great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y enjoyed this. I forgot to mention it on the first chapter but i recently created a side blog for my fics and uswnt obsession, it's sarih93.tumblr


	3. Late to the party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The epilogue

Christen is leaning against her bathroom door watching Julie do her makeup. She knows she should be deciding what shoes she's going to wear tonight but she enjoys the look of concentration in her girlfriend’s face.

"Hey babe can you check my phone?" Julie asks while she puts on eyeliner.

"Moe wants to know where we are." Tonight they were celebrating Eric’s birthday, the actual birthday was last Wednesday.

"Um tell her we're already on our way"

Christen types the message and throws the phone onto the bed. Figuring they are already late enough she goes back to her closet to pick out some shoes. 

"Ok, I'm ready." 

Christen is still fastening her sandals. "I'm almost done."

While Julie goes to get the birthday present they had bought Eric earlier that same day Christen finishes getting ready. They meet by the door.

"Chris you look beautiful," Julie says sincerely and Christen blushes, Julie is always complimenting her and it never fails to make her blush

"You too," she gives Julie a quick kiss on the lips. "Come on we should really get going."

It takes them less than fifteen minutes to get to Eric’s apartment but that’s still makes them late by almost an hour.

Morgan greets them at the door

"Look who finally made it"

"Hi Moe! Where's the birthday boy? We got him a gift," Julie announced proudly.

“He was in the kitchen last time I saw him”. Julie immediately goes inside to look for Eric but Christen stays with Morgan for a while catching up. Eventually Morgan is called away to help with something and Christen is left alone. For a moment she feels overwhelmed because she doesn’t really know any of Eric’s friends but she spies Danielle, Meghan, Crystal and a few others over by a couch on the living room so she makes her way towards them.

Meghan notices Christen first. “Oh hey, we were starting to think you guys had ditched us.” Kling elbows Crystal on the ribs to make room on the couch for Christen, who gratefully sits.

“Impossible, Moe kept texting us,” Christen jokes. “The mall was especially crazy today and it took us a while to find a present for Eric,” she explains.

“Yeah that’s why I avoid at all cost going to malls on weekends,” Meghan says understandingly

“So that’s why you didn’t get Eric anything?” Crystal quips.

“That and I forgot but he doesn’t mind”

For a moment Christen stops paying attention to the conversation, she looks at the people getting drunk and rowdy and she feels out of place. When Julie had told her about the party she had stressed that they didn’t have to stay too long but she doesn’t mind parties, even if she doesn’t drink much, and she knows Julie doesn’t spend a lot of time with the rest of her friends.

Just then she sees Julie leaving the kitchen and looking around. The two of them make eye contact and Julie approaches them.

“Hi! What are you guys talking about?” Julie sits on the arm rest almost on top of Christen who immediately leans against her

Danielle points at Christen and Julie “How you two are relationship goals”

Julies beams and kisses Christen on the cheek.

“Gross,” Meghan fake whispers. Julie sticks her tongue out at her.

Danielle asks if anyone is watching Fear The Walking Dead and the conversation moves along. Christen participates from time to time but she’s content playing with Julie’s hand and listening.

Christen goes to the kitchen for some water. The kitchen is surprisingly empty so she decides to stay there for a minute. After a while Julie comes to her

“Why did you leave me with those people?” Julie asks jokingly

Christen chuckles. “Those people are your friends”

“Yeah but they’re weird, especially Kling.”

“And what does that say about you huh?” Christen teases Julie who acts offended.

“That I don’t know how to choose my friends. But I have excellent taste in girlfriends.” Christen rolls her eyes at that.

"Oh!” Julie exclaims and grabs Christen’s arm like she didn’t already have her attention “Eric told me he really liked our gift"

"Why were you so excited about that gift anyway?"

Julie shrugs "Because it's the first time that we get someone a present together"

It’s unfair really, how easily Julie can make her melt. She’s dating the sweetest, most thoughtful human being in the entire world and she doesn’t know what she did to deserve it.

“I love you.” Christen leans in for a slow kiss.

“I love you too,” Julie licks her lips before adding "so...I’m kinda ready to leave if you are?"

Christen nods, grabs Julie's hand and they make their way out of the kitchen. When they approach Morgan to say goodbye she already knows what’s going on.

"You guys are leaving already? You're taking the old married couple thing a little too far"

“Look who’s talking,” Christen retorts. Julie laughs and hugs her best friend.

They leave the party how they walked in, hand in hand.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on continuing this story but Kacey Musgraves' Late To The Party inspired me to add an epilogue.  
> I barely gave lines to Kling because I don't know how to write her, she's too awesome.

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing Presston, let me know if you guys want me to write the date (possibly from Christen's POV)


End file.
